Post-Traumatic Growth Syndrome
Resiliency: the ability to rebound quickly from a crisis or trauma.
Resilient people are like trees buffeted by the wind. They bend but don't break under pressure. They see negative events as an opportunity to better themselves or become better people. This phenomenon is known as post-traumatic growth syndrome!
Post-traumatic growth syndrome or PTGS is possible because people call on their inner resources and recruit outside resources to keep moving forward. For the believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible promises that when we practice certain character qualities, we will never fall (2 Peter 1:10)!
Scripture encourages us to supplement our faith "with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:5-8).
It is amazing that God has granted believers His precious and great promises. It is through these promises that we become partakers of His divine nature. We never become God, but amazingly we share in His nature as we become increasingly like Him.
A lifelong pattern of growth in Christlike character is possible and is the key to a fruitful life. Even secular researchers agree. "Generally people who are active in a religious faith tend to get through difficult times better," says Al Siebert, Ph.D., author of The Resiliency Advantage.
A Duke University study concluded that people with serious medical conditions who had strong religious convictions and participated in religious activities were less likely to be waylaid by depression. When these patients did become depressed, the depression lifted sooner than it did for less religious people.
In the emotional back draft of misfortune or change, I can chose to cultivate character qualities that are in harmony with God's own moral character. These qualities reflect the desires of my transformed heart - a heart made visible by re-framing my current situation in the most positive terms possible and navigating it for the glory of God.
